Phrase Dintroduction Dissertation Proposal

Print book

Dissertation proposals & writing dissertations

This book takes you through all the elements needed for a successful dissertation proposal and dissertation. The book explains the sections required for both proposal and dissertation, and offers helpful downloadable templates to assist with the presentation.

Site:

Solent Online Learning

Course:

Succeed@Solent

Book:

Dissertation proposals & writing dissertations

Printed by:

Guest user

Date:

Sunday, 11 March 2018, 7:25 AM

Dissertation proposals & writing dissertations

Getting Started

Writing both your dissertation proposal and your dissertation will utilise the skills you have developed throughout your course. Many of these, such as Research, Critical Thinking and Referencing, have been covered elsewhere in the succeed@solent.

This book will cover:

submitting a successful dissertation proposal

writing and organising your dissertation

presenting your proposal and dissertation to the required specifications for submission.

The first step is to put together your proposal.

Step 1: Dissertation proposals

What are the essential elements to a good dissertation proposal?

Title

Introduction

Aims and objectives

Methodology

Literature review

Scope and constraints

Resources

Outline of sections/chapters

Timetable

References.

Title

You need a working title to focus on throughout your research. It may be that you will improve on the wording later but make sure the title you begin with means something.

Remember:

Future employers may ask about the topic of your dissertation. It might be worth thinking to the future in order to come up with something that will gain their interest.

Which of the following would gain your interest if you were the manager of a web-based sales company?

"Intranets and their use in advertising"

"Using Intranets to build a knowledge management system"

"How recent developments in Intranet technology can be used improve sales performance."

Introduction

Set out your reasons for undertaking this particular study in your Introduction.Set your ideas into a theoretical/academic context.

Your statement should:

Outline the problem – what is the key issue?

Explain why you think this is worth investigating

Describe the nature and purpose of your research

Indicate what you hope to achieve.

Remember:

Some lecturers prefer students to weave their literature review into the introduction; others prefer it to be kept separate.

If you are unable to complete your statement then you are not yet ready to begin.

Aims and objectives

The primary focus of your research project is usually expressed in terms of aims and objectives.

What is the difference between an aim and an objective in an academic context?

Aim

An intention or aspiration; what you hope to achieve.

Aims are statements of intent, written in broad terms.

Aims set out what you hope to achieve at the end of the project.

Objective

A goal or a step on the way to meeting the aim; how you will achieve it.

Objectives use specific statements which define measurable outcomes. For example: what steps will you take to achieve the desired outcome?

Objectives should be S.M.A.R.T.:

Specific – be precise about what you are going to do

Measureable –you will know when you have reached your goal

Achievable – Don’t attempt too much. A less ambitious but completed objective is better than an over-ambitious one that you cannot possible achieve.

Realistic – do you have the necessary resources to achieve the objective? For example: time, money, skills, etc?

Time constrained – determine when each stage needs to be completed. Is there time in your schedule to allow for unexpected delays?

Some tutors are happy with one clear strong aim, whilst others like to see a main aim supported by at least two subsidiary aims.

You will be required to produce sufficient objectives to be able to measure progress towards meeting the aim/s.

Remember:

Aims describe what you want to achieve. Objectives describe how you are going to achieve those aims.

ExampleAim: To investigate the relationship between tectonic-plate movement and the gravitational effect of the alignment of the major planets.Objectives:

Data sets will be extracted from the known historical record of tectonic-plate movement

Data sets will be extracted from astronomical tables detailing the various alignments of the major planets covering the same period as data from the geological record.

The data from both sets will be synthesised to establish if correlation points exist between major geological events and planetary alignments.

Methodology

Remember to do the following when writing your Methodology:

explain what methods you intend to use when researching and developing your report.

use a descriptive writing approach. It is important to explain what research methods you used to collect your info.

Do not include your questionnaires, interview transcripts, etc. -these go in the dissertation’s appendices.

Discuss with your project supervisor the extent and level of detail required; original research will obviously require a more detailed description than a project based solely on secondary research.

Example of a methodology statement

The following sample statements are intended to give a flavour of the approach one could take but they are not to be assumed to represent a complete methodology.

Literature surveySecondary data will be reviewed initially through the university library using a range of information sources such as the OPAC system, academic and commercial abstracts, bibliographic databases, and Internet search engines.To aid the search, a table of key terms will be constructed and the sources located will be correlated with this. A secondary cross-reference table will be developed so that data can be viewed from different perspectives.

Data collection and samplingTo test current practice against the historical record an on-line survey will be conducted to gather primary source data from companies currently engaged in the export of goods related to heavy engineering projects.The survey will collect quantitative data on the range of goods requiring an end-user licence. A systematic yet random sample of companies will be drawn from members of the British Business Register.

Data analysisAs the number of companies, engaged in the defined activity, has yet to be established the data analysis method has not yet been decided. However, it is anticipated that a commercial spreadsheet package such as MS Excel would be suitable, although more sophisticated analysis software such as SPSS is available within the university’s IT centre should this be required.

Remember:

If someone else chooses to carry out the same or a very similar type of study, they should be able to understand and copy your methods from your descriptions.

Literature survey

The Literature survey (also known as a Literature Review):

uses a descriptive writing approach

describes the existing and established theory and research in your report area by providing a context for your work.

can show where you are filling a perceived gap in the existing theory or knowledge

can propose something that goes against or is controversial to existing ideas.

accurately references all sources mentioned in the survey and gives a full citation in the Reference List.

Remember:

Not every dissertation proposal contains a Literature survey.

Sometimes the literature survey can be a discrete piece of writing that is set and marked separately.

You can embed your literature survey in the main body of your dissertation but this depends on the preferences of your department or tutor.

Scope and constraints

Set the boundaries clearly in this section.

For example:

you may have too much material to cover so you will need to put some limits in place on the project

you may not be able to conduct some research due to constraints imposed by time, cost or availability of materials.

Examples of boundary setting:

1. The literature survey will be as thorough as possible and will be complete by the time the dissertation is written up in full. However, one key area will require a number of visits to the British Library as some materials are not available on inter-library loan. This section will be researched over the summer break as time permits.

2. Whilst it is hoped to conduct some primary research in the USA during the summer of 2010, current restrictions on visa applications is causing some concern. Should the USA research prove impossible to achieve, secondary research will be extended in order to provide an alternative means of analysis.

3. Whilst every endeavour will be made to present a global perspective, many original documents are written in languages other than English. Obtaining technical translation of these documents may prove difficult due to financial constraints. Electronic translation software is not sufficiently advanced as to guarantee reliable results with this type of material and will not be employed.

Resources

List resources that you will need to complete your study in the Resources section.

Example:

The university’s library and IT facilities should prove adequate for the majority of the research and analysis required by this study.

However, graphical representation of some of the data may require the use of specialist software such as Pro-graph, which is not currently available in university’s IT suite.

This will not affect publication of the results, however, as this service is provided locally by a commercial printing facility.

Timetable

Below is a proposed timetable for your dissertation. Your schedule should be designed to fit in with the university timetable/academic year and should take account of any deadlines set by your department. It should also be sufficiently detailed for your supervisor to identify any areas of weakness in order to provide you with appropriate guidance:

Academic calendar week no.

Activity

10

Receive clearance from supervisor to proceed.

11-12

Literature searching.

Christmas break

Review literature and start work on first draft. Aim to complete chapter one.

13

Design questionnaire (if appropriate).

14

Submit draft of questionnaire and chapter 1 to supervisor.

15-16-17

Work on first draft of remaining chapters (excuding conclusion).

18

Submit first draft to supervisor. Receive feedback on previous work.

19

Update questionnaire (if required) and send out.

20-21

Chase questionnaires and begin tabulating results.

22

Receive feedback on first draft main chapters.

23

Analyse results of questionnaire.

Easter

Write up final draft of dissertation - begin drafting out conclusion.

24

Complete final version - main chapters.

25

Receive feedback on conclusion and write up.

26

Final revisions after proofreading.

27

Print - bind - submit.

Outline of sections/chapters

Give an outline of the structure of your dissertation in this section. This is usually restricted to the main body as the overall structure is often prescribed.

The main discussion will require a more detailed breakdown than other sections. You should give suggested chapters headings and one or two paragraphs about the proposed content.

References

The reference list at the end of your work demonstrates the depth of your research. It acknowledges your sources of information, protecting you against the serious charge of plagiarism (passing off others’ ideas as your own).

This is where you list all of your research reading if you have included a literature survey.

Remember:

If you presented your literature survey separately, you would have referred to some aspects of that reading in your introduction (your statement of the problem).

You must cite and reference those aspects in this section.

Step 2: What sections go into a dissertation?

Below is a list of the sections a dissertation may contain. However, not every dissertation includes all these sections. Find out which sections you need to include by asking your supervisor, by identifying what is standard practice in your discipline or by reading papers written by other students:

Cover

Title page

Acknowledgements

Abstract

Contents page

List of figures or illustrations

Main body

Introduction

Literature survey

Methodology

Results

Discussion

Conclusion

Recommendations

Reference list / Bibliography

Appendices

This is a formatted Word document that you can overwrite with your report content. In the template above, simply delete sections which you are not required to write or move sections within the document by cutting and pasting.

Remember:

When submitting any written work via turnitin you need to add an electronic cover sheet to your assignment. You can get a copy of this from your Unit page, or visit Successful Online Submission. To see examples of past dissertations from Solent University students, please visit the archive below.

Cover page

All dissertations and theses submitted at Southampton Solent University must be bound and have an official uni cover page. You can get the cover page from your faculty office. Notice that the cover page has a 'window' in it (a rectangular hole). Make sure that your title page has the required information positioned correctly so that it shows through the hole.

Figure 1: Example cover page

In the template above, the title page is formatted correctly. Notice that the template title page shows through the picture of the cover.

Remember:

When submitting any work online via turnitin add an electronic cover sheet to your assignment. Get a copy of this from your Unit page, or visit Successful Online Submission.

Dissertations are exempt from online submission, however you can use turnitin prior to the hand in date to check your work.

Title page

Your dissertation or thesis should have a title page - it'll look something like the one here (taken from one held at the Solent Electronic Archive 'for reference only').

Figure 2: Example title page

Your faculty should provide you with a standard Solent University dissertation/thesis cover. This has a rectangular hole or ‘window’ through which it should be possible to read the following details from the title page:

The award for which the project is submitted

The academic year of submission

The name of the author

The title of the work

You have to position the window carefully in the centre of the page. You could create a moveable text box on the page in order to do that, or you could use the template which has the window positioned correctly.

Other information that may appear on the title page but outside of the window space may include:

Southampton Solent University

The name of your faculty

The name of your supervisor

The date of presentation

Remember:

Check with your faculty/tutor for their preferences.

Acknowledgements

The acknowledgments is a paragraph which thanks everyone who has helped you whilst you have been researching and writing your dissertation.This may be your supervisor or any other academic staff who have provided guidance and support; other students or colleagues that you've collaborated with; interviewees; librarians; external bodies who have given you assistance.

Not every dissertation/thesis has one but it is a good idea, if you are clear about who you should thank - don't just include one because you feel you ought to. Do check previous students' papers in the library and talk to your supervisor about whether to include one.

Acknowledgements usually come on the first page after the title page although some people put it after the abstract. Check for the normal practice in your subject.

Abstract

The Abstract is a summarised version of your complete paper. A reader could get the main ideas from just the abstract, or use the abstract to decide whether to read the rest of the paper. Every dissertation/thesis does have an Abstract although it may be called a 'summary'.

Remember to:

Briefly outline what your paper aims to do

Briefly outline the results and the conclusions you have reached.

Figure 4: Example abstract page (from Solent Electronic Archive).

Remember:

The abstract will always come at the beginning of your paper, before the contents page.

Contents page

A dissertation or a thesis is an extended piece of writing. To help your reader find information easily, you must include a Contents page.

Figure 5: Example contents page

Usually, the Contents page will come after the Acknowledgements and Abstract, and before the List of figures (if you have one) and the Introduction.

Notice that everything leading up to the Introduction does not have to be numbered here. If you do number the pages, the numbering would be in Roman numerals.

Remember:

Be very careful when making your final draft that all of the page numbers given in the Contents are correct.

List of figures or illustrations

You will need to include a List of figures, a List of illustrations or even both if your dissertation has the following items:

tables or charts

diagrams

photographs, pictures or illustrations

This page should:

list the name of each figure or illustration, included in the body of your dissertation or thesis. It should give the number of the page that it appears on.

give a descriptive title (not 'Figure 1', 'Table 1' etc.).

Figure 6: Example of a list of tables/figures page

Remember:

You do not need to give reference details here.

Include these in a citation next to the figure itself and in your Reference List or Bibliography.

Figures, tables, illustrations... what's the difference?

If you are doing a design or fine arts subject, it is likely that you will include photographs, drawings, paintings or illustrations in your dissertations. These would normally be included in your List of illustrations.

In other subjects, it is common to include all tables, charts, graphs, photographs, drawings, etc. together in a List of figures.

However, if you have a great deal of information presented in tables, it may be best to have a both a List of tables and a List of figures (everything that's not a table). When labelling, number these separately (Table 1, Table 2, Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.).

Remember:

The List of illustrations is positioned after the Contents page (on a separate page) and before the Introduction.

Check what is the normal practice in your discipline.

Main body - introduction

The introduction serves as an expansion of your title and is included in every dissertation. The introduction:

uses a descriptive writing style

gives a bit more detail about the problem or question you are tackling in the paper

makes a very clear statement of your purpose – Why did you carry out the research? Why are you writing this dissertation?

indicates the scope of your research.

outlines the sections to be included

gives a very brief statement of the background to the topic.

can define any key terms which need clarfying in order to understand the content.

Remember:

The introduction comes at the beginning of the paper, after the abstract, acknowledgements and contents lists.

When numbering the pages, start at 1 on the introduction.

Main body - literature survey

The Literature Survey is also known as a Literature review.

A Literature Survey

uses a descriptive writing approach

is positioned after the introduction and before the methodology

describes the existing and established theory and research in your report area. You are providing a context for your work.

can show where you are filling a perceived gap in the existing theory or knowledge

can propose something that goes against or is controversial to existing ideas.

accurately references all sources mentioned and gives a full citation in the Reference List.

Remember:

The Literature Survey is not in every dissertation. Sometimes the literature survey can be embedded in the main body of your writing.

Check whether to include this seperately or not with your department or tutor.

Main body - methodology

The general idea is that, should someone else choose to carry out the same or a very similar type of study, they should be able to understand and copy your methods from your descriptions. Your thesis or dissertation will involve a large body of research so it is important to explain what research methods you used to collect your information.

The Methodology should:

uses a descriptive writing approach

is positioned after the introduction (and Literature survey if one is included)

explains the methods used in researching and developing your report.

Remember:

Do not include your questionnaires, interview transcripts, etc. here - put these in the appendices instead.

Main body - results

The Results section may also be called 'Findings'. This section:

uses a descriptive writing approach in an objective and factual way.

is positioned after the Introduction (Literature survey and Methodology if these included), directly before the Discussion section.

describes everything discovered through your research.

gives all of the results, but only the results of your research activities.

can include tables, graphs or illustrations here to make it easier for the reader to understand the data.

Remember:

Do not include any discussion, argument or conclusions – these come later.

Main body - discussion

The Discussion section:

uses a discursive and evaluative writing approach

is positioned after the Results section.

interprets your own understanding of what the results of your research show.

makes interpretations and judgements.

contextualises your ideas in relation to other theories and with other similar research, particularly in reference to the works mentioned in your literature survey.

Remember:

All of this discussion must be framed within the purpose you stated in your title and introduction.

Do not draw out your conclusions here, but open up the discussion of possibilities.

Main body - recommendations

Check with your tutor or department whether you should be including recommendations in your dissertation or not.

If the dissertation provides information on an area for which future decisions will need to be made, then you should include recommendations on what decisions to make.

The recommendations:

use an evaluative writing approach

is positioned after the Conclusion

must be cross referenced to the part of the paper that gives evidence for them.

each recommendation should be numbered separately.

Remember:

Including a Recommendations section depends on purpose.

Always check with your tutor first.

Main body - conclusion

The Conclusion should reach your point. The conclusion:

uses an evaluative and possibly argumentative approach.

is positioned after the Discussion.

Consider the following questions:

What, in your conclusion, did your research show in relation to your aims?

Did you meet your aims, go beyond them, or in fact fail to reach your aims?

Did you prove your own hypothesis or disprove it?

Remember:

Do not go back to a longwinded explanation of your results but instead give a brief and clear statement of what these results show.

Reference List/Bibliography

Some dissertations have a reference list, some have a bibliography, some have both. Ask your supervisor, and look at past papers in your subject to find out which one to use.

Figure 7: Example references page

A Reference list:

is positioned at the end of your paper before the appendices

gives the detailed references for all source materials used in your paper.

includes anything quoted, paraphrased or referred to that was written or stated by someone other than yourself .

A Bibliography:

is positioned at the end of your paper before the appendices

gives the detailed references for all source materials you have read.

lists anything looked at in your research

Tip:

For details on how to write different kinds of references: visit the Referencing Book.

Appendices

An appendix normally includes research related material that does not fit easily or suitably in the body of the paper:

survey questionnaires

observation sheets

interview transcripts

supplementary data which adds useful information or insight but is not essential to the understanding of the paper

An Appendix:

is positioned as the final section of your dissertation or thesis.

is numbered and titled

uses a different page numbering system ('A-1', 'A-2' etc.).

Figure 8: Example appendices page

The dissertation template has that all set out for you - click the image of an appendix on the right to download the template.

Remember:

You can have more than one appendix (appendices).

For each Appendix, start on a new page.

What a dissertation should look like

The following pages give you advice on:

how to format and present a title page

numbering sections and figures

page numbers

format

presentation

binding

Watch this short video for a student's perspective:

Remember:

The advice on this site is general. Always check the specific requirements of your faculty or department. Ask if they can provide you with dissertation writing guidelines. To see examples of past dissertations from Solent University students, please visit the archive below.

Solent Electronic Archive (Weblink opens in new window)

Title page

As your dissertation is a larger piece of writing you should have a title page. Your faculty should provide you with a standard Solent University dissertation cover. This has a rectangular hole or ‘window’ through which it should be possible to read the following details from the title page:

The award for which the project is submitted

The academic year of submission

The name of the author

The title of the work

Position the window carefully in the centre of the page. You could either create a moveable text box on the page in order to do that, or use our template which has the window positioned correctly.

Other information that may appear on the title page but outside of the window space may include:

Southampton Solent University

The name of your faculty

The name of your supervisor

The date of presentation

Remember:

Dissertations are normally exempt from online submission. However, you can use online submission to check your work prior to the hand in date.

If you're submitting any work online via turnitin add an electronic cover sheet to your assignment. Get a copy of this from your Unit page, or visit Online Submission using Turnitin.

Numbering sections and figures

Good academic writing is about ease of understanding. Numbering the sections makes it easy to know where you are in the dissertation at any one time. It also means that your reader can use the contents page to find any particular part of the text they are interested in.

Numbering sections in your dissertation

Give all major sections a consecutive number using Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, etc.).

Continue to add sub-sub sections by increasing the number of decimal points. Avoid doing this excessively as you may make the structure too complicated.

Numbering figures, tables and illustrations

Label and format correctly any figures or tables that you use in your dissertation:

Number figures and tables separately

Number them consecutively, using Arabic numbers (e.g. 1, 2, 3, etc.) in the order that they appear in the text

Each figure or table should have a title

For example:

Figure 9: Example of writing figures

Figure 10: Example of a table

Check very carefully that the numbering and page numbering are all correct in your list of tables and figures

Always provide a source for any figure or table that was not created by you, and give a full citation for the source in your reference list

Remember:

‘Figure’ refers to any graph, chart, photographs, drawing, picture or other illustrations.

For example: illustrations in a design dissertation has 'figures’.

If including a figure or table, refer to it in the body of your paper at the point where it appears.

the sequence of appendices should be given using capital letters of the alphabet (A, B, C, etc.).

list them by their letter in the contents page

give each appendix a heading in the form ‘Appendix A’, ‘Appendix B’, etc., as well as a descriptive title.

For example:

“Appendix A: Copy of survey questionnaire”

Page numbers

As far as page numbering goes, there are four sections to your dissertation:

Title page

Your title page should have no number.

Preamble

The preamble is everything between the Title page and the Introduction:

Abstract

Acknowledgements

Contents

List of Tables and Figures.

Use small-case Roman numerals (i.e. i, ii, iii, iv, etc.) to number.

Insert a section break between the pre-amble and the main body.

Main body

Includes everything from the Introduction up to (but not including) the appendices.

Use Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.) to number.

Appendices

Use the letter name of the appendix and an Arabic numeral. (i.e. A-1, A-2, B-1, B-2) to number.

Create a section break for each appendix and manually add the letter name into the footer.

Note:

All these sections, with correct numbering, appear in the general dissertation template which can be accessed below.

Format

Font

The standard font for Southampton Solent university is Trebuchet MS.

Line spacing

Set your line spacing to 1.5 lines.

Indents or breaks

Leave a space of one line between paragraphs, rather than indenting the first line

Set your spacing at 12pt after a line.

Margins

The left hand margin should be set at 3.2cm (1.25 inches)

The right hand margin about 2.5cm (1 inch).

Approximately 3.8cm (1.5 inches) should be left free of text at the top and bottom of each page.

Section headings

Sections headings should be left aligned, bold and numbered.

The numbering should be the same as given in your contents page.

Make sure you are consistent in your numbering of headings and sub-headings.

Remember:

There may be some variation in your department’s requirements.

For example: some departments may want you to indent as well as leaving a line space. Check with your supervisor or your department’s guidelines.

Presentation

Try and follow the presentation points below:

Use white A4 paper of a reasonable thickness (not too thin and not thick like card)

Single sided (print on one side of the paper only)

Bind and cover your paper – plastic comb binding is the most common way

use the standard Solent University front and back cover that has window in the front to show the assignment details

Look at the example title page above. It has the dissertation details in the correct place to appear through the cover window.

Remember:

If your dissertation is in any way different to the normal format (as, for example, some design dissertations may be), consult your supervisor for correct presentation.

If you check your work electronically using turnitin, add an electronic cover sheet to your assignment. Get a copy of this from your Unit page, or visit Online Submission using Turnitin. The final submission of your dissertation will not normally be done online using Turnitin.

Binding

Professional bindingFor advice and guidance, email the university's Print Centre at print.centre@solent.ac.uk or visit the collection desk, on the lower floor of Mountbatten Library. Opening hours are 8am -5.30pm Monday to Friday.

Online orders including posters, dissertations and a wide range of printing, finishing and binding options can also be placed using this Canon Print Centre link.

What type of binding should you use?

First of all, check the expectations of your department.

How important do you view this paper you are handing in? If it’s really important, then surely it’s worth the cost of having it professionally bound.

No matter how well bound your dissertation is, the content is the most vital part.

Submitting your dissertation

Dissertations are normally exempt from online submission using Turnitin. However, it is a valuable tool for checking your work prior to the hand in date. Your tutor will need to have set up a turnitin link on your course page to do this.

You can get more information on online submission elsewhere in the Successful Study Guide.

Dissertation proposals & dissertation checklist

Before submitting check that you have completed all required details.

Front cover:

What is required? If in doubt check with your faculty but as a minimum you should include:

Are your sections/chapters sufficiently developed that your supervisor will be able to see where you are going with this?

Are your references complete and in the required format?

Academic style:

Is your title meaningful?

Does your statement clearly define the problem?

Have you checked the word count?

Have you checked the layout? (Does your faculty have any specific requirements e.g. numbered sections/paragraphs?)

Remember:

When submitting any written work online via turnitin you need to add an electronic cover sheet to your assignment. You can get a copy of this from your Unit page, or visit Successful Online Submission.

Avoiding plagiarism

Plagiarism is taking the words, theories, creations or ideas of another person and passing them off as your own.

Plagiarism can be deliberate – copying a passage from a book or journal or pasting something from the internet into an assignment without referencing the original source.

You can also commit inadvertent plagiarism which is where you unintentionally repeat some of the information you have read in the course of your research. You must ensure you do reference ALL material that comes from another source so question yourself as to whether you have read the information elsewhere and go back to your sources to locate the reference.

Plagiarism can also result from not referencing correctly. You must ensure you know how to reference your work using the style advised by your tutor.

Watch this video to find out more about avoiding plagiarism:

Consequences

Plagiarism is a serious issue that can result in failing an assignment, failing the year or even having to leave the course. All forms of plagiarism will be taken seriously - deliberate or not!

Plagiarism is a form of academic misconduct. Southampton Solent University has clear guidelines on student academic conduct and procedures for dealing with academic misconduct. Make sure you are familiar with these by looking at the links on this webpage:

To avoid plagiarism, make sure you include references within your assignment to all sources you use and then include full details of all the sources in a reference list at the end of your work.

To find out more, download the Avoiding plagiarism summary below.

Test your understanding of what plagiarism is by clicking on the links below.

Extra resources

Reading List

Read a book or ebook from the Dissertation Proposals and Writing Dissertations reading list.

The following titles are available from the library:

Post-graduate study

Subject specific books and ebooks

Recommended websites.This is currently being updated.

Downloadables

Documents used in this resource

More help

If you'd like some more help with dissertation proposals and writing dissertations you can:

Ask your lecturer for guidance.

If you are a disabled student you can also contact Access Solent for guidance and support.

View the glossary to help you understand the words used in this book.

Read a book or ebook from the reading list found in Extra resources.

Visit recommended websites in Extra resources for further guidance on dissertation proposals and writing dissertations.

If you have any feedback about dissertation proposals and writing dissertations. or additional material you'd like to see in the course, please email us at lt.help@solent.ac.uk

Thank you to all staff and students at Southampton Solent University who contributed to this course.

An effective introduction discusses the meaningfulness of the study along while it presents the problem or issue. Because it advocates for the need for your investigation and gives a clear insight into your intentions, the introduction presents a background and context for your investigation. If your introduction gets your audience's attention, they will stay with you throughout your proposal.

Because it includes all of the sections listed below, your introduction may be several pages in length. Use your new knowledge of the research proposal and Crafting a Research Proposal: The Introduction to assist you in your organizing and writing of your own research proposal introduction.

As explained before, not all elements of the introduction are discussed separately. Many times several elements are discussed in one paragraph. This list just reminds you of all of the things that should be discussed at some point in the introduction. Although these aspects of an introduction are described separately, some parts may, in reality, be combined together when the actual proposal is written.

1. These elements should all be included in some form in the introduction. Each link has suggestions and tools to help you to plan for each.

As a part of the Introduction, effective problem statements answer the question “Why does this research need to be conducted?” The clear statement of the problem is the focal point of your research. It should state what you will be studying, whether you will do it through experimental or non-experimental investigation, and what the purpose of your findings will be. In it, you are looking for something wrong, something that needs close attention, or something where existing methods no longer seem to be working.

In your wording, be succinct and on target. Give a short summary of the research problem that you have identified. A research proposal may not be considered acceptable or credible if you fail to clearly identify the problem. Your biggest difficulty might be narrowing the topic since the topic is still relatively unfamiliar to you. Your Literature Review should be a helpful source.

While the problem statement itself is just one sentence, it is always accompanied in the larger Introduction by several paragraphs that help to elaborate and that may include other elements of the research proposal. You might present persuasive arguments as to why the problem is important enough to study or include the opinions of others (politicians, futurists, other professionals). Explain how the problem relates to business, social or political trends by presenting a bit of evidence from your Literature Review that demonstrates the scope and depth of the problem. Try to give dramatic and concrete illustrations of the problem. After writing the Introduction, however, make sure you can still easily identify the single sentence that is the problem statement.

Complete the following tutorial and Crafting the Research Proposal: The Introduction to help you to compose and record your own problem statement for your research proposal.

Planning My Explanation of Purpose for the Study

Planning My Definitions Section Your proposal needs to be understandable to a general audience, not just individuals in your field of investigation. You should define important terms and concepts that are usually stated in the objectives, hypothesis, and research questions, especially considering subject-specific and technical terms. Words that differ in meaning in the context of your experiment from traditionally accepted meanings should also be defined. Especially be sure to explain any operational definitions, special definitions that you have created just for your study. Be sure to refer to authoritative sources in your definitions to add to your authority and credibility in your audience's eyes.

Crafting the Research Proposal: The Introduction and the information located in this website will help you to write this section of your proposal.

As you begin to write your introduction the clearest way to arrange your definitions is to list terms in alphabetical order, with definitions stated in complete sentences. The can be observed in the following example of a definitions section from a proposal entitled “On the Home Front: Gender Disruption and the Great War.”

Definition of Terms

“The Great War”: World War I (WWI), general armed conflict between the Allies and the Central Powers, 1914-1918.“Modernism”: a post-Victorian artistic and literary movement marked by disillusionment with industrialism and imperialism, by the rise of capitalism and commercialism, and by the decline of religious certainty in an age of anxiety.“The New Woman”: a term coined around the turn of the century to denote the emergenceof women into the public sphere, a term closely associated with the suffrage movement, and connoting profound social transformations of the time.

NOTE: Both terms with precise historical meanings (“The Great War”) and potentiallyambiguous ones (“Modernism” and “The New Woman”) are defined. Theseare not the only possible definitions, but are the ones chosen by the author to fit herown needs in the thesis.

The following are excellent sources for defining terms:

Planning My Explanation of Problem Significance

Incorporating My Literature Review

Your review of literature is already completed and has been through the process of revision and editing, so you have done the bulk of the work associated with this section of the introduction. It just needs to be added to the rest of this part of your proposal. Sounds easy, right? Just a simple Copy-Paste?

Well, it is easy, but it does require a little more than mouse clicks to make the literature review "fit in" with the rest of your proposal.

You have three main things to consider:

Because you wrote the literature review before you learned about research design and methodology, you may now have new terms and concepts to associate with the summaries and explanations in your document. Revise your literature review to be sure that there is alignment in your terminology and analyses.

Because you wrote the literature review some time ago, you need to revise it to have the same voice, tone, and styleas the rest of your proposal. This is something that you may want to wait to do until you have finished the methodology section of your proposal, but it is good to begin to at least consider it now. Your proposal should sound like it was written by the same person, something is surprisingly difficult to do when a document is created section-by-section.

Because your review of literature has its own bibliography, those references must be incorporated into the reference list for the rest of your proposal. Both reference lists need to be combined into one list that is alphabetized, formatted appropriately, and eliminates duplications in entries.

Although you do not have to plan anything for this step, your planning guide directs you to complete a Reflection Journal entry.

Planning My Research Questions or Hypothesis

2. The way that introductions are crafted is as individualized as the proposal that follows. You already saw actual introductions when you reviewed Sample Research Proposals and you may have recorded some of ideas about them in your Reflective Journal. Here are some "How To" procedures that you've seen before that explain some ideas for the construction and composition of the introduction section of the research proposal.

Suggestion A.

Begin with something interesting, e.g., a quote or story, to capture the reader's interest.

Introduce your question or curiosity. What is it that you want to know or understand? How did you get interested in the topic? If your question has evolved since you have begun, describe the process.

Tell why there's a need for the study. Cite relevant literature that calls for the need for the research in this area, or demonstrates the lack of attention to the topic. In your own words, describe how you think this study will be useful.

Describe the intended audience for your research (e.g., the public, family therapists).

Describe your research product. What form will the report take (e.g., scholarly manuscript, magazine article for the public, script for a documentary video)?

Conclude the introduction with an overview of your proposal.

Suggestion B.

Introduction (2 pages)

1. What is the topic of your research?

2. What area of sociology is concerned with questions related to your research interest?

3. Formulate your research question(s) or the problem you want to address as clearly as possible. What is your research goal? Is it descriptive, exploratory, explanatory, or an evaluation?

4. Explain how you came to this question/problem based on your previous interests (research you might have been involved in, other courses you have taken, your work experience, discussions, etc.).

5. Explain the assumptions you are making in researching your question.

Explain the concepts you are using; what indicators/variables will you need to measure these?

What is your hypothesis and your independent/ dependent variables? Or what are you trying to explain?

6. Tentative thesis (argument) (your best answer to the research question based on your work to date)

7. Significance of this research question: Explain why this research is worth pursuing. Why is answering this research question important?

Suggestion C.

Introduction

this section sets the context for your proposed project and must capture the reader's interest

explain the background of your study starting from a broad picture narrowing in on your research question

review what is known about your research topic as far as it is relevant to your thesis

cite relevant references

the introduction should be at a level that makes it easy to understand for readers with a general science background, for example your classmates

Once you have drafted your proposal introduction, use the revision checklist to help you to self-revise your document. When you have made your own revisions, post your proposal introduction to the course Wiki so that others can comment and respond to your introduction using the same revision guide.

When you have completed soliciting feedback and have made your revisions, use the editing checklist to help you to polish your document.